can't we hook up jumper cables to an electric eel and make S cars go?? I realize we need an aquarium in every vehicle.. but we can do amazing things with genome editing now please don't tell the christians how their electric vehicles actually work.. Tell them Joel Osteen prayed they would have their own car for 15 cents a mile from point a to point b don't worry... be happy.. somone will give you a cheeseburger.. or maybe that seagull will drop a french fry???
What practical value did the first theories of quantum mechanics have shortly after discovery? None. And then semiconductors followed from them, which led to integrated circuits and computers. The fact that you have a computer to type on should tell you why your "all theoretical science is worthless" attitude isn't rational. Theoretical science has a habit of turning practical.
I believe it was hoped that the LHC would find stuff predicted by some flavors of string theory. It did not. See here: https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/09/have-physicists-just-disproved-string-theory/
What method is used to decide whether or not it's safe to overtake though? And how is the move initiated - by human intervention? If that is the case, but the intervention decision is unwise or misjudged so far as oncoming vehicles and their closing speeds are concerned, will the vehicle's computer override the order, and not overtake?
I still think it's fanciful, and destined to be a highly expensive white elephant (although thankfully not by taxpayer funding). We all like driving too much; for example, would you buy an AV? I wouldn't.
As I keep saying, I have no problem with science - it's pseudoscience I have a problem with, and the Higgs Boson 'discovery' is right up there. It was probably 'discovered' by those who 'work' at the LHD to justify and perpetuate their jobs for life. I mean they've got to come up with something now and again, so why not a new particle? Who can dispute it? If anyone does, they'll close ranks and rebut it with a load of bullshit-baffles-brains nonsense.
The current sensors in the car, think of them like enhanced blind side detection sensors that are fitted to a lot of cars now, can 'see' if the lane is clear or not. With Tesla there is no human intervention needed, but at the moment the driver is ultimately responsible. Sort of like blind side detection you can have the flashing light in your wing mirror but if you want to ignore it you can do. In a heartbeat, my current car has a limited amount of automation for example adaptive cruise control and the ability to follow a car in a traffic jam.
Well I hope you'll have many happy miles on non-collision motoring in your new Tesla. Me? I'll use my own skills and judgment in getting from A to B and back again in one piece!
The problem is what you label pseudoscience is just theoretical science you label either through inability to understand or unwillingness to investigate further. Go back 50 or 100 years and what you would have labeled pseudoscience is not common place and used in everyday applications. Think of x-rays, how do you think people reacted when they were told there were some magic rays that can see through solid objects, or when a virus was first theorised. Don't get me wrong there is such a thing as pseudoscience but it's usually easy to tell as there is has been no peer review, or support by flawed studies or just made up data that can't be checked.
As Derideo_Te pointed out, autonomous cars are rather better at judging whether or not it's safe to overtake than a human operator. They're better at judging the speed of the vehicle they are about to overtake, the distance and approach speed of any vehicles coming in the other direction and whether or not there are side roads out of which a vehicle could appear. There are autonomous vehicles happily running around all over the place and so far their accident rates are far lower than those for human drivers. Mainstream manufacturers already have plenty of models which are already effectively autonomous on major roads.
....and if you do you'll be putting yourself, your passengers and fellow road users at unnecessary risk. I get it, humans like to be in control, but the truth is that the machines do a better job. Aeroplanes are effectively self-flying these days. The pilots are there to deal with emergency situations but don't have to touch the controls for hours on end. There is some truth to the old joke about the space ship, the, the "pilot" and the monkey. The "pilot" is there to give the monkey a banana and the monkey is there to stop the "pilot" touching the controls.
I'm an intelligent man, and I assure you that I know the difference between science and pseudoscience when I see it.
I'm not saying that the concept is doomed to fail (although I still can't see how it can work in practice, nor ever will), and god knows there are plenty of nutters on the roads in this country, and even more in other countries; I'm thinking of France and Italy, I'm just saying there will be little or no demand for AVs, and I honestly can't see how they can be compatible with normal vehicles in an on-the-road scenario. We still haven't agreed if to overtake will require human intervention, or the practical hazards of the manoeuvre re closing speeds with an oncoming non-AV vehicle. Nobody seems to be thinking through the minutiae of it all.
People were saying the same when cars took over horses. I have to say though that I too have doubts on whether AVs can share roads with human driven cars. Humans are just too dangerous and erratic to be allowed to drive cars. The solution would be to make all cars fully automatic with no human intervention at all which is what I think will be happening in the future.
Well you can be sure that if Prince Phillip was in a Tesla he would not have crashed into that other car a few days ago, The victim did not get home in one piece
More would be better. We should probably defer these new high energy particle projects until we have secured our environment, then you can have all the cash you can persuade goverments to offer up - much better than proper healthcare for the people..... this money comes out of taxes. Commercial production of energy from fusion is many years away, and who knows how clean, safe and economically viable it will be? In the meantime the cost and viability of renewables is improving all the time.
How do you know ? You may not be able so see, but rest assured that there are tens of thousands of people working on this right now and that there are fully autonomous vehicles running around and overtaking more safely than human-piloted vehicles.
Yes I know, but I'm smarter than they are, and think they're so engrossed that they're not seeing the wood for the trees. But time will tell. Tks for the link - I'll try later, when I return from a walk, if I can find any others with which to compare it. I have my reservations on Huffpost. BTW would you buy a AV if there were conventional cars still around?
No, you think/claim that you are - there's a significant difference. How do you know ? You have no idea what they do. There are literally hundreds of AVs running around all over the world at the moment. In a heartbeat.
